View Full Version : Bizarre punishments as children
Did anyone on here ever get punished as children, at home, school or both, especially for doing something relatively trivial in the grand scheme of things, with something really bizarre, ludicrous and out of the ordinary?
I'm not intending to be voyeuristic nor perverted in any way, nor do I want to this thread to degenerate into endless 'kids today'-bashing matches and debates about corporal punishment not doing past generations any harm, etc, which of course is subjective and still very much a grey area. Also if possible please keep anything sexual out of this thread.
One of the strangest ones for me (at school) is an entire class (or sometimes even school) being punished over the misdemeanours of just one pupil, with every single pupil being put in detention or forced to miss break times, and even worse (especially before the 80s) every single pupil being caned/slippered just because of one child.
Lazy justice IMO.
WiredIncorrectly
09-02-21, 16:50
I got a slap when I went too far with bad behavior. I got grounded in my bedroom for the 6 weeks holidays for accidentally smashing my bedroom window and lying about it. Police came out and everything to investigate and they figured out it was me. I wouldn't say that's out of the ordinary though. I was rascal. I set fire to my house when I was 6 and watched the fire burn in the kitchen. I ran upstairs to get more teddies to fuel the fire before realizing it took over the entire kitchen and I had to wake my mom. I got punished by parents, the school, the police and the fire brigade for that. I still didn't learn, weeks later I had this toy that had popup ducks when you pressed the buttons. I'd attach lit candles to their heads and press the button so they flew across the room. After that I never did mess with fire.
I got a slap when I went too far with bad behavior. I got grounded in my bedroom for the 6 weeks holidays for accidentally smashing my bedroom window and lying about it. Police came out and everything to investigate and they figured out it was me. I wouldn't say that's out of the ordinary though. I was rascal. I set fire to my house when I was 6 and watched the fire burn in the kitchen. I ran upstairs to get more teddies to fuel the fire before realizing it took over the entire kitchen and I had to wake my mom. I got punished by parents, the school, the police and the fire brigade for that. I still didn't learn, weeks later I had this toy that had popup ducks when you pressed the buttons. I'd attach lit candles to their heads and press the button so they flew across the room. After that I never did mess with fire.
Sounds like you had a lot of issues as a kid. And was your ASD undiagnosed back then?
Shame you also ended up in the nick for a time later on.
Going back to whole-class/school punishments, I've always thought it was an extremely lazy idea, if not inhumane, though collective detentions are obviously the lesser of the two evils compared to collective canings, though the former is extremely inconvenient to those kids and their families who may have made special after-school arrangements, and the bad 'uns get wind of that and misbehave all the more as a more discreet form of bullying.
I've heard that some teachers still do the whole-class detention thing even today.
Honestly some never learn!
I remember when I was about 4 my mom warned me that shop managers would take me into the back of the store and smack my bum really hard if I touched anything or misbehaved in said shops.
Probably would have been really embarrassing for the store manager to be expected to physically chastise misbehaving little kids coming into his premises and inadvertently be portrayed as a potential bogeyman unless he was some serial nonce case, which of course doesn't even bear thinking about!
Seriously, was there ever a time when store managers literally had the legal rights and powers to physically chastise naughty little kids on their premises when it was (and still is) really the responsibility of the parents to discipline their misbehaving kids?
It kind of backfired, as I went on to develop fears of the shops concerned, especially in case a big hulking (male) manager came bursting out of the back room in fits of rage about to snatch me into the back and brutalise me for even breathing on his premises!
Pamplemousse
20-02-21, 19:05
I remember a particular metalwork teacher's favourite for misbehaviour was to make you stand with two big and heavy G-cramps, one in each hand; one held horizontally in front of you and one held horizontally to the side for five minutes. If you went off horizontal you had to do it for another five minutes.
I remember a particular metalwork teacher's favourite for misbehaviour was to make you stand with two big and heavy G-cramps, one in each hand; one held horizontally in front of you and one held horizontally to the side for five minutes. If you went off horizontal you had to do it for another five minutes.
Evil barsteward!
Just imagine all the kerfuffle if a factory boss made his/her workers do that as a penalty for the slightest misdemeanour?
Everyone would down tools and walk out in a jiffy, especially the Bobby Grants of this world!!
Going back to schools, it does sound like many were often brutal and inhumane environments (particularly before the 90s) and you were fair game for ill-treatment if you had a disability, homosexual, BAME, or a combo of some or all.
I remember my mom binning one of the records from my Fisher Price record player when I was about 3 1/2 as a punishment for me refusing to eat peas for dinner one night and I spat them all out back onto the plate!
The record in question was the dark blue one that contained 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' b/w 'Au Clair De La Lune'.
My mother used to keep a wooden paddle from a broken paddle and rubber ball toy in the top drawer of an upright dresser in our kitchen. She would use it to keep us in line...which was not easy. We kids would often move it to one of the other drawers and it was hilarious to watch her going through them trying to find it. By the time it was found the whole ordeal was one big laugh fest. "No Ma, try the other drawer." Actually though my parents never used physical punishment on any of us kids. My dad did once to the oldest boy. He swore at my mom - the kid had it coming. But that was it.
My mother used to keep a wooden paddle from a broken paddle and rubber ball toy in the top drawer of an upright dresser in our kitchen. She would use it to keep us in line...which was not easy. We kids would often move it to one of the other drawers and it was hilarious to watch her going through them trying to find it. By the time it was found the whole ordeal was one big laugh fest. "No Ma, try the other drawer." Actually though my parents never used physical punishment on any of us kids. My dad did once to the oldest boy. He swore at my mom - the kid had it coming. But that was it.
The being whacked with a wooden spoon thing was a stereotypical punishment dished out by Irish mothers, especially before the 90s. I think a few years back (in Ireland) there was a comedy-drama set in the 80s about a stereotypical dysfunctional Irish family with an irate chain-smoking, wooden spoon-happy mother, and a chronic alcoholic, wife-beater of a father.
I came across it at random on YouTube a few months ago, and it was dead cringeworthy!!
Without sounding too prejudiced against Irish people, and trying not to tar them all with the same brush, I suppose kids being whacked with wooden spoons by their parents as a punishment was also a thing in England, Scotland and Wales.
You ever catch Monty Pythons British birth vs Irish birth lenso? Absolutely hilarious. The Irish mom drops the baby in the kitchen while making dinner and never skips a beat 🤣. Of course there's about 15 kids in the kitchen with her already lol.
You ever catch Monty Pythons British birth vs Irish birth lenso? Absolutely hilarious. The Irish mom drops the baby in the kitchen while making dinner and never skips a beat 🤣. Of course there's about 15 kids in the kitchen with her already lol.
That would no doubt be considered non-PC by today's standards.
On one occasion back in late March 1985 I was standing on the sofa in our living room with the Sooty Show episode 'Super Star', where Sweep became an overnight pop star, and laughing at him singing, and my mom suddenly burst into the room and started having a mega hissy fit at me for standing on the sofa and screamed at me 'If I ever catch you standing on the furniture like that again I'm gonna take you to the POLICE STATION'!!
I know she probably never really meant it, and was no doubt said in the heat of the moment, but said threat has haunted me for the remaining 36 years since.
I reckon had my mom literally acted on said threat and drove me down to the local nick they would have no doubt given her a right ear-bending for wasting valuable police time over a seemingly trivial matter, and over a kid who was nearly 8 years old at the time who had hardly even committed the crime of the century!
My mom's sister (my 'maternal' aunt) was far worse in terms of harsh discipline and was very slap-happy towards my cousins back when they were kids, and often used to dish out hard smacks willy-nilly, with the 'hit first, think about it later' mentality, sometimes even for relatively trivial misdemeanours, or not even 'misdemeanours' at all!
Having said that, my maternal grandad had a bit of a screw loose and was a bit of a sadist, fisticuff-happy barsteward himself, who even pushed my mom down the stairs as a punishment when she was a child, let alone her and my aunt being on the receiving end of a few beltings and slipperings by him as children!
My paternal grandad was very similar and treated my dad in similar ways when he was a child.
Hardly surprising both my mom and myself have turned out a bit disturbed, though fortunately, my dad has always been a bit more resilient and has managed to rise above many of his childhood treatments that would no doubt be considered abusive by today's standards, and rarely ever whacked me and my brother back when we were kids, except whenever I really provoked him.
I remember when I was about 4 my mom warned me that shop managers would take me into the back of the store and smack my bum really hard if I touched anything or misbehaved in said shops.
Probably would have been really embarrassing for the store manager to be expected to physically chastise misbehaving little kids coming into his premises and inadvertently be portrayed as a potential bogeyman unless he was some serial nonce case, which of course doesn't even bear thinking about!
Seriously, was there ever a time when store managers literally had the legal rights and powers to physically chastise naughty little kids on their premises when it was (and still is) really the responsibility of the parents to discipline their misbehaving kids?
It kind of backfired, as I went on to develop fears of the shops concerned, especially in case a big hulking (male) manager came bursting out of the back room in fits of rage about to snatch me into the back and brutalise me for even breathing on his premises!
I've just remembered about the man who was the manager of the local Co-op store in the 'ward' of our town that we lived in when I was a little kid. His job (IIRC) also doubled up as the in-store butcher and he used to wear a white coat and I remember being scared of him as he was another one of those 'bogeyman' shop managers whom my mom used to warn me about him taking me into the back of the store and giving me a good hiding if I touched anything or simply played up in said store.
One night when I was about 4 1/2 I recall having a nightmare about him snatching me into the back of the store and setting about me with his meat cleavers and other bladed instruments he used to carve up the meat with.
In reality he was probably far from being the perverted 'bad man' who revelled in chastising naughty little kids for misbehaving on his shop premises, and actually a decent bloke.
I think some parents simply have addled minds themselves when they tell their kids such scary (and false) fairy tales!
Also another typical example of all men being stigmatised when there are also women who can be just as cruel to children, men and other women just the same.
Although this was fictitious, there's an episode of Brookside from January 1983 on YouTube where Damon Grant (who was probably about 14 at the time) returned an anorak that his parents had bought him for Christmas and spent the refunded money on records instead.
Sheila found out about it through Damon's sister Karen, and they both went out to a market where they sold the records Damon bought with the refunded anorak money while Damon, Barry and Bobby were at a footie match that afternoon, and Sheila bought Damon a girl's coat instead and demanded he wore it as a punishment!
Talk about parental humiliation?
However, the Grant parents did seem to come across as rather abrasive and very 'black-and-white' about things at times, especially Bobby, who appeared to disown Barry umpteen times. He also disowned Sheila just over 5 years later when she and her neighbour Cathy went out clubbing one night, and chucked all her possessions out into the middle of the Close, which he also did to Barry whenever they had an epic fallout!
Hardly surprising the Grant boys were a bit off the straight and narrow with such an abrasive, rage-happy dad!
I remember my mom binning one of the records from my Fisher Price record player when I was about 3 1/2 as a punishment for me refusing to eat peas for dinner one night and I spat them all out back onto the plate!
The record in question was the dark blue one that contained 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' b/w 'Au Clair De La Lune'.
Yesterday, funnily enough, I was browsing another forum and came across a thread about parents calling the police to discipline their children (which dates from around 2015 I think), and it was mentioned that one or two parents even got in touch with the police because their children refused to eat their vegetables. Talk about totally raving bonkers?
I'm totally surprised the Old Bill even had the time and patience to intervene in such a trivial non-issue at the time that's a matter for dietitians/health professionals in the most extreme cases and a total waste of valuable police time. It must also have been slow crime days in the areas concerned on those occasions.
Not only was it emotionally abusive towards those kids concerned but it also gave them the wrong impression of the police from quite a youngish age, especially as food refusal is hardly breaking the law.
But unfortunately, there will always be a tiny minority of parents/carers who are totally irrational and knee-jerk reactionary over the most trivial of incidents/issues, and who are probably not fit to even be parents in the first place.
WiredIncorrectly
01-08-24, 16:26
We got a spanking when we were younger. But my Dad stopped after he left a red mark on my brother. He didn't intend it and I thank him (RIP Dad) for raising us a lone. He was a good Dad.
When I was at school we used to punch each other in the arm. Was just a playground thing. I was in year 7 just started the school. I wasn't a bad student. Bit of a class clown because I thought that was the way to get friends. But I loved learning.
Anyway, it was lunch time and we was all running around chasing each other. I spotted my next door neighbor. A girl a few years higher than me. We got on well and our parents were friends.
I ran passed her and punched her in the arm. All of a sudden I heard a teach scream "Jaffa get here!". That was my nickname, even the teachers called it me. Bit odd, because I actually can't have kids. No swimmers.
Turns out the person I punched was a teacher who looked identical to my friend from behind. Both had ginger hair that was the same style and length.
Police got involved. I was in isolation for the entire year 7 in a classroom on my own next to the headteachers office. Police were called. I wasn't allowed to go out for lunchtime and my dinner was brought to me.
Nobody believed my story. But I wasn't lying. I felt the punishment was way over the top considering it was an accident by a silly boy.
I got in less trouble when I burned our kitchen down. I lit candles and threw them in the bin to see what would happen. I was 6 :S
We got a spanking when we were younger. But my Dad stopped after he left a red mark on my brother. He didn't intend it and I thank him (RIP Dad) for raising us a lone. He was a good Dad.
When I was at school we used to punch each other in the arm. Was just a playground thing. I was in year 7 just started the school. I wasn't a bad student. Bit of a class clown because I thought that was the way to get friends. But I loved learning.
Anyway, it was lunch time and we was all running around chasing each other. I spotted my next door neighbor. A girl a few years higher than me. We got on well and our parents were friends.
I ran passed her and punched her in the arm. All of a sudden I heard a teach scream "Jaffa get here!". That was my nickname, even the teachers called it me. Bit odd, because I actually can't have kids. No swimmers.
Turns out the person I punched was a teacher who looked identical to my friend from behind. Both had ginger hair that was the same style and length.
Police got involved. I was in isolation for the entire year 7 in a classroom on my own next to the headteachers office. Police were called. I wasn't allowed to go out for lunchtime and my dinner was brought to me.
Nobody believed my story. But I wasn't lying. I felt the punishment was way over the top considering it was an accident by a silly boy.
I got in less trouble when I burned our kitchen down. I lit candles and threw them in the bin to see what would happen. I was 6 :S
Sounds like a momentary case of 'mistaken identity', though I guess it forced you to be more careful in future.
And yes, it's sadly not uncommon for some people to get off scot-free for bigger misdemeanours more worthy of punishment.
I went to catholic school and in 6th grade we had a nun for a teacher who was COMPLETELY BONKERS. I have so many hilarious examples:
1. Someone knocked the bulletin board border off why walk between the bulletin board and the desk clump next to it, so she made every student in the class practice walking by that way without rubbing against the bulletin board.
2. There was a boy in my class that was always in trouble but who all the girls liked. She made him sit up next to her desk until his bus was called. One day, he asked me if I could lock his locker for him so he wouldn’t miss his bus. I guess she saw me do it and called me out into the hall to yell at me and tell me that I can like him from a distance but “this nonsense has to stop”. They she brought every girl outside in the hall one by one and told them to stay away from him.
3. When I was in 6th grade her classroom got a new carpet. They also happened to be redoing the floor in the cafeteria so we had to eat lunch in the classrooms. But she wouldn’t let us - we had to sit on the floor in the hallway to eat and then she had to inspect the bottom of our shoes on our way back in to make sure they didn’t have any crumbs stuck to them.
4. Not a punishment, but now I’m on a roll. When my best friend said she wanted to be a dancer when she grew up the teacher told her that’s not a real job and she had to choose something else (she was 12 at the time).
We also had a pretty strict 3rd grade teacher, but her punishments were pretty standard Catholic school - I had to write “Silence is Golden” hundreds of times for chatting in class. She also moved my desk in the hall a few times for talking. My brother had to write “I will do what I’m told to do when I’m told to do it, not what I want to do when I want to do it” like 100 times.
Good times!! 😂
I went to catholic school and in 6th grade we had a nun for a teacher who was COMPLETELY BONKERS. I have so many hilarious examples:
1. Someone knocked the bulletin board border off why walk between the bulletin board and the desk clump next to it, so she made every student in the class practice walking by that way without rubbing against the bulletin board.
2. There was a boy in my class that was always in trouble but who all the girls liked. She made him sit up next to her desk until his bus was called. One day, he asked me if I could lock his locker for him so he wouldn’t miss his bus. I guess she saw me do it and called me out into the hall to yell at me and tell me that I can like him from a distance but “this nonsense has to stop”. They she brought every girl outside in the hall one by one and told them to stay away from him.
3. When I was in 6th grade her classroom got a new carpet. They also happened to be redoing the floor in the cafeteria so we had to eat lunch in the classrooms. But she wouldn’t let us - we had to sit on the floor in the hallway to eat and then she had to inspect the bottom of our shoes on our way back in to make sure they didn’t have any crumbs stuck to them.
4. Not a punishment, but now I’m on a roll. When my best friend said she wanted to be a dancer when she grew up the teacher told her that’s not a real job and she had to choose something else (she was 12 at the time).
We also had a pretty strict 3rd grade teacher, but her punishments were pretty standard Catholic school - I had to write “Silence is Golden” hundreds of times for chatting in class. She also moved my desk in the hall a few times for talking. My brother had to write “I will do what I’m told to do when I’m told to do it, not what I want to do when I want to do it” like 100 times.
Good times!!
All sounds OTT as hell to me.
It does seem like quite a lot of nuns have rather a tendency to not be quite right in the head, though at the same time, especially being mindful of PC-ness and the likelihood of being shot down in flames by certain others on here who may disagree, I seriously don't intend to tar them all with the same brush.
All sounds OTT as hell to me.
It does seem like quite a lot of nuns have rather a tendency to not be quite right in the head, though at the same time, especially being mindful of PC-ness and the likelihood of being shot down in flames by certain others on here who may disagree, I seriously don't intend to tar them all with the same brush.
I agree. I went to Catholic school my whole life and I'll say that the majority of nuns I encountered - especially in high school where the order was a bit more progressive and based around women's education - were lovely people. But, I do also think that the way of life for nuns and priests is such that it definitely self selects for some rather strange folks.
WiredIncorrectly
15-08-24, 15:29
I went to catholic school and in 6th grade we had a nun for a teacher who was COMPLETELY BONKERS. I have so many hilarious examples:
1. Someone knocked the bulletin board border off why walk between the bulletin board and the desk clump next to it, so she made every student in the class practice walking by that way without rubbing against the bulletin board.
2. There was a boy in my class that was always in trouble but who all the girls liked. She made him sit up next to her desk until his bus was called. One day, he asked me if I could lock his locker for him so he wouldn’t miss his bus. I guess she saw me do it and called me out into the hall to yell at me and tell me that I can like him from a distance but “this nonsense has to stop”. They she brought every girl outside in the hall one by one and told them to stay away from him.
3. When I was in 6th grade her classroom got a new carpet. They also happened to be redoing the floor in the cafeteria so we had to eat lunch in the classrooms. But she wouldn’t let us - we had to sit on the floor in the hallway to eat and then she had to inspect the bottom of our shoes on our way back in to make sure they didn’t have any crumbs stuck to them.
4. Not a punishment, but now I’m on a roll. When my best friend said she wanted to be a dancer when she grew up the teacher told her that’s not a real job and she had to choose something else (she was 12 at the time).
We also had a pretty strict 3rd grade teacher, but her punishments were pretty standard Catholic school - I had to write “Silence is Golden” hundreds of times for chatting in class. She also moved my desk in the hall a few times for talking. My brother had to write “I will do what I’m told to do when I’m told to do it, not what I want to do when I want to do it” like 100 times.
Good times!!
That sounds crazy. Were all Catholic schools very strict? I heard a story throughout my own school that the local Catholic school was strict. Lots of wild stories that may have been myths.
My Dad told me stories of when he was at school. He was deaf in one ear because a teacher threw a blackboard rubber at him. Back in those days it was perfectly normal for a teacher to do this.
He said he got the cane sometimes, and while waiting outside the headmasters office to receive his punishment he used to burn his hands on the radiator so that the lashings wasn't as painful.
Off topic, but he lived next to the BSA grounds in Small Heath, Birmingham. He used to play on the grounds and they'd often find bullets, and weapons. That factory was directly hit by a German bomb during WW2 too.
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